PRODUCT REVIEW
2040 HG DynaLead
DYNAMIC
BY STEVE OUIMETTE
Every once in a while, a product breaks away
from the norm and dares to be different than
the rest of the pack. In the current golden
age of gear, there are many, many great
amps available—more than I’ll ever play in a
lifetime—so it takes something extra special
to stand out. In the case of the Dynamic
2040 HG DynaLead, I feel they’ve discovered
a way to bring something unique to the table
while still making it dead simple to operate
and get great tones. Like any good design,
you wonder why it hasn’t been done this way
before. To be honest, I’d never even heard
of the Dynamic brand until the amp arrived
for review, but I’m sure that will change very
soon. Again, I haven’t played every amp in
the world, but the 2040 HG opened my eyes
to a new design concept that works for me.
Let’s take a look.
The Details
Built right here in the USA, the 2040 HG comes
in a mid-sized head box nicely adorned with
smooth black Tolex, chickenhead knobs, and
a cool woven grille. The matching semi-open
2x12 cab (MSRP $895) is made from pine, with
a multi-ply birch baffle and back panel, and it
houses two Eminence Wizard and Red Fang
speakers. The chassis is made from welded,
. 125"-thick, black-anodized aluminum and
sports custom iron and high-quality compo-
nents. The head I received was loaded with two
EL34s, but it’s also pre-biased to accept 6L6s or
6V6s. Nice! Two 12AX7 preamp tubes, a 12AT7
phase inverter, and a 12AU7 reverb driver
comprise the rest of the tube complement.
Thoughtful appointments like the head’s blue
logo backlight and top and side handles on the
cab are both cool and convenient. The back
panel includes an AC power-cord receptacle,
two fuses, external bias meter connectors, a
PowerStep knob (which switches between full,
half and 10% power), two extension speaker
outs, a main speaker out, an impedance selec-
tor ( 4 or 8 ohms), and three footswitch jacks.
The front panel looks similar to most amps at
first glance, but I did a double take when I got
closer. There’s a lot to take in here, so stay with
me. From left to right, you have a standard
input and, above it, a three-way bright switch,
followed by a Gain A knob and two more
switches—Grind and Channel A/B/DL. Channel
A (the clean channel) consists of a five-way
Voicing knob and a Thin/Fat knob. Channel B
(lead) hosts Gain B, Thin/Fat, and Volume knobs.
Next we have the DL (DynaLink) control—which
functions effectively as a third channel—and
